Dr. Sharon E. Jarvis (Ph.D., University of Texas- Austin, 2000) is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Associate Director of the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the University of Texas at Austin where she teaches and conducts research on political communication, persuasion and research methods.

She has published books and articles at the intersection of language use, politics and persuasion. She is the author of The Talk of the Party: Political Labels, Symbolic Capital & American Life(Rowman & Littlefield) and a co-author of Political Keywords: Using Language that Uses Us (Oxford University Press). Her articles, chapters, and reviews have appeared in Journal of Communication, Political Psychology, American Behavioral Scientist, Political Communication, Communication Quarterly, Communication Studies, Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, Rhetoric and Public Affairs and Howard Journal of Communications.

She has been the Principal Investigator on a $100,000 grant to investigate the political participation of college students and working youth (CIRCLE, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts), a co Principal-Investigator on two related projects focusing on the politics of youth (over $550,000 in funding from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts), and has headed an evaluation team for an intervention in San Antonio High Schools ($500,000).

She has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards and honors, including the Texas Exes Outstanding Professor for the College of Communication, the Eyes of Texas Teaching Award, and the Outstanding Professor in the College of Communication. In 2005, she was the second Assistant Professor in the history of the University to receive the Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship, the largest undergraduate teaching honor at U.T. Austin.